


Day 41

by gbMS



Series: Days [4]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Pete's World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-18 10:25:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11872395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gbMS/pseuds/gbMS
Summary: Over a month in, the Doctor starts to "settle"





	1. Job Offer

Ring. Riiiiing. Ring. Riiiiing.

“That’s yours. You pick it up when you hear it ring. You know how mobiles work,” came an echoing shout from the other room.

The Doctor forced an arm to the side of him, patting the top of the drawers beside his bed until the ringing was quieted by his hand. He opened one eye and hit the big green button as he put the phone by his ear.

“Hello?” he said in a gravelly voice, rubbing his hand down his face as if it would wipe the sleep off, though the generous scruff he was growing slowing the hand's progress. He bolted upright, job done by an external source.

“Yes, This is John Noble Smith.” Rose peered into the room from the attached bathroom, putting in a pair of earrings but refusing to miss anything that caused the Doctor to use his full pseudonym for the first time since it’s inception. “Yes. Perfect. Lovely. Address?” he quickly stood in just his pants and skittered up to a pad of stickies on his bedside table to jot a few things down. He looked at Rose and handed her the paper for her to see as he left the room with the phone attached to his ear.

_Physics Class. 1.07 8-1600 4 classes_

Rose blinked slightly before her face grew a gigantic smile. Her face turned at the noise as he rushed back into the room with the phone still glued to his ear and kissed her soundly, then turned around and left again.

She chuckled at the speed and surprise of it, wondering silently in her post-snogged daze how he was going to have to wake up every morning, earlier than this, if it took his great excitement to get him out of bed _this_ fast.

He was going to teach. Good call, he was simultaneously good at imparting knowledge and a fan of talking, but she was unsure if we was prepared with the amount of paper work there was going to be. She wasn't quite sure it's his experience in the 1930s was going to be comparable.

Still, it was exciting. She pulled a belt from her top drawer and smiled to herself as she slid it on. He was starting to get restless, which hadn’t been surprising. Over a month on the slow path had caused him to destroy a few toasters, ‘accidentally’ steal some tech from the Torchwood vaults, reorganize the books in her library by several different criteria including a few that required licking pages, and go shopping. Shopping _a_ _lot_. As complaint filled as he got, he was always happy with something to take apart or even the rare set of clothes he’d enjoy, especially if they were trousers that showed off his bum. She clasped her belt before quickly becoming distracted by another streak of brown and blue sauntering in proudly.

“This fall,” his arms raised in triumph, shirt still unbuttoned over his now under-shirted torso and trouser-covered legs, “I am _officially_ Professor Doctor John Noble Smith!”

“That's great! Where?” Rose smiled excitedly and clasped her hands together noisily, sitting on the bed to listen.

“A secondary school I interviewed with a few days ago.” His grin was infectious, positively radiating his happiness at this development.

“Hold on, are teachers in second'ry even called professor?”

He shrugged, “No idea. But I’ll make it happen!”

“They must be hard up if they’re willing to take you, and this late in the season.” Her face grew solemn, obviously forcing it so as even the corners of her mouth betrayed her glee for him.

“Oh, I’m _charming_ , you have to admit I’m charming.” He leaned forward toward her as he buttoned the base of his shirt. Rose faux-shrugged, her smile betrayed her excitement, her nonchalance quickly fading away.

“Yes, and brilliant. They’re lucky to have you.” She assured, throwing her arms around him. The Doctor quickly hugged back lifting her up off the bed and straightening with her still attached, lifting and swinging her slightly as they laughed. She detached herself when she saw the time over his shoulder and tucked in her shirt still grinning.

“This is surprisingly exciting. It’s not saving the world from destruction exciting, but it’s building a future mind exciting. Even one might… hold on.” He lost himself in thought somewhere around the fourth shirt button, “Would this be influencing the future of a race?”

“No? Yes? I'm not a Time Lord, I don't set those rules or even know the limits of them!” She put out her arms in surrender before swiftly returning them to her hips. “Weren't we just excited that you had a job that you'll like?” Rose questioned, attempting to bring him back to the world at hand and not his overly consuming thoughts. “What?”

“What if I teach someone the molecular weight of an atom split by sound?” He started to panic, his previous glee being overtaken by serious, if over-rationalized thoughts. “...Or how to travel faster than light?” He was genuinely lost in the thought of his potential repercussions of his teachings on a pre-planet-colonization human population. She could see the multitude of gears working through his face.

“So don't teach them that?” she swept her hair behind her ear again and finished his buttons for him, bending slightly to gain eye contact with his now bent head and furrowed eyebrows. “You’ll be fine, yeah?” she smiled into his eyes as he straightened again, having been pulled from his multitude of potential world-changing thoughts by the happy blonde. “Plus, I think you’re missing the attention span of an average _secondary_ _student_ learning _physics_.”


	2. Scruff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor reflects on his beard.

The Doctor stared into the mirror scratching his newly acquired facial hair. He wasn't exactly new to facial hair, and it wasn’t exactly _new_ facial hair any more. He could always do it, just never felt the compulsion. He'd always had time to shave, but lately his life had been filled with other things to do regardless of their non-world threatening urgency. Most of those things could be done with Rose, and spending four extra minutes of his day without her seemed very much like a thing that didn’t need to be done. There were already non-Rose parts of the day by necessity, but no one needed to add to them. Especially since diving in to his inventions with Rose's gradual return to working at Torchwood.

He could shave _now_ , for instance, but why really bother when Rose was about to come back for lunch? Yes, this was becoming a daily occurrence so yes, it would likely happen again tomorrow, but no, it wouldn’t be quite worth it if he missed even a millisecond due to unnecessary grooming when he had already missed so much time with her.

Plus, he was starting to like the beard despite his slight disappointment of it not coming in even a bit ginger. Even with Donna Noble's influential DNA, though, said influence had yet to be calculated. But she was ginger, after all. What, she couldn’t have spared a few follicularly impacting DNA strands? Of course not, Donna'd love the frustration it initially caused him. Even brown, he was starting to like the beard.

Maybe Rose liked the beard, too. Maybe he should ask her.

He heard the key in the lock and quickly moved his head to the doorway of the down stairs loo and looked down the hall just as her familiar figure opened the door. Rose entered, carrying mail in one hand wrapped in his new least favorite addiction, trash mags, and a brown paper bag in the other wafting delicious scents at him.

“I only have twenty minutes, traffic was a horror and I’m due for a meeting in an hour.” She complained, quickly putting the mail down on the table, handing him the warm bag of quick take-out food she’d gotten for lunch and wrapping her arms around him in a swift move. She planted a kiss on his lips in greeting.

“Well, a quick lunch is better than no lunch, right?”

She nodded, “Right.” She grabbed the bag back as she released him and headed to the cheap dining table that resided in the kitchen on his side of the pair of connected houses, putting the bag down and pulling white cardboard boxes of food out of it.

“Meant to ask, what do you think of the beard?” he asked, absently feeling his facial hair with one hand while opening the cupboard with the other. He saw her shrug out of the corner of his eye while he filled two glasses with water.

“Feels different. Looks different.” She grabbed a bit of wayward carrot on top of the take away with her fingers and munched as she put the rest of the food down and grabbed the a pair of chop sticks from the bag as she sat. The rickety chairs both made noises and teetered a bit as the two prepared to eat, the Doctor putting their waters in the table. The Doctor vaguely remembered he’d already told himself to fix these as they toddled and squeaked as they moved. He removed a pair of take-away chopsticks from the bag as she did.

“Good different or bad different?” he looked at her seriously, mirroring what felt like a million years ago and making her heart flutter a bit as she smiled.

“Just different.” She winked. “Bit _detective inspector-y._ Even fits the professor vibe.” Rose absently stuck a mouthful of some juicy noodles in her mouth amidst her ridiculous grin.

“Naughty professor?” His eyebrows waggled as he took more than a normal amount and carried it deftly to stuff his mouth.

Rose pointed her empty chop sticks directly at him, eyes narrowing as that bit of food was swallowed, “Better not be.” He almost choked in chuckling but swallowed his food.

“Seriously, how’s it look?” He gulped down what was left of his mouthful of noodles and smiled, turning his head from side to side for her eye’s judgement.

“Better since it’s grown in more. Always had nice hair. Just… interesting to have more of it than I’m used to.” She put another bite on her mouth fairly ungracefully as she thought, her hand going under her chin to prop up her head as she chewed quickly. He watched her gaze intently on his hair and move her eyes around his face, matching up her memory to what she saw before her with a satisfied smile on her lips. The light from the windows lit her eyes in such a way that her irises seemed lighter as she looked him over, her eyes almost glistening. “You _may_ need to get a haircut, though. It’s starting to flop. Not a good look with that adorable face.” Rose winked again as she took another hasty bite.

He smiled. “Okay. Hair cut this afternoon. Maybe they’ll trim up the beard.”

“Want me to drive you? Pick you up after work. We’re due to distract Tony so Mum can get the house ready for that Vitex thing tonight.” She almost grumbled the reminder of the party.

The Doctor sighed. “The Vitex thing. Right.” He continued chewing. “Fancy dress party in _that_ mansion? What could _possibly_ go wrong.”

“Mum throws parties all the time. She knows about... Ya know, that time, but you know Mum,” she laughed, “Loves a party.”

“And she keeps letting us watch your brother, you’d think she’s starting to trust me with her children!” the Doctor looked proud, beaming away between bites of the brown noodles and sliced vegetables.

“Well, not having a TARDIS probably's part of that,” Rose said as they finished the last of the hastily-eaten take-out. “Probably figures there’s less trouble you can get into when you’re stuck on Earth.” He scooted out his chair and scooped up the hastily empty containers to throw them in the trash. Rose quickly snatched a stray noodle from a lid with her fingers and dangled it into her mouth with a grin, sucking barest hint of sauce she gained from that action off her finger tips. “Little does she know.” He huffed a laugh, dropping the containers in the bin.

“Well, the 40-odd day streak of relative quiet would certainly point to _that_ being a correct assumption.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoiler: the beard only sticks around for a bit. There's a reason for it, promise.


	3. King Tony

Rose rushed in the front door, her baby brother on her hip, as she speedily ran into the sitting room. The Doctor followed at amazing pace, coming in behind her and shutting the door before sonicing the lock a few times to make sure it was locked tight. Rose put Tony on the sofa and rushed to the windows, shutting the curtains while the Doctor ran, flailing his arms to the back door and make sure it’s locked. As she finished and he skittered back into the sitting room, both heavily breathing, they closed in on the now pouting Tony as he sat on the big, blue couch.

The curly-haired blond boy sat there with his arms crossed, channeling his mothers actions through what was steadily presenting itself as his father’s face. A blue cape on his shoulders, opulent and velvety. One his head lay a small, off-kilter, very shiny and obviously very metal crown with gems inlayed. It would have looked like a posh version of a toy crown to anyone else. In fact, it had even fooled them for a few moments. Moments enough to allow Tony to take it in the first place.

The Doctor rushed over, mumbling something under his breath about jinxes and ‘ _the best Christmas Walford has ever had_.’

“Okay, Tone, little man… you have to do Rosie and Doctor a little favor, okay?” the Doctor started, kneeling down to the boy seated with his legs hanging off the sofa. He was speaking in with a quality where the recipient, if Tony had been in one of the ages of reason and not a petulant two-year-old, would have had them scared for their life or their planet. “ _Take off that crown_.”

Instead, the boy’s eyebrows scrunched and his lips tightened, his defiant arms still crossed and his hands in little fists as the blue cape he was wearing wrapped around his shoulders.

“'kay, Tony, I need you to do this, yeah?” Rose approached the small boy with a calmer tone, forcing every speck of her possibly immeasurable patience into her words, “An' remember what Mummy says, she says that I’m the boss when I’m with ya, yeah?” she was slowly regaining normal breath, but her eyes still wore the running. She squatted in front of Tony on the sofa, laying one of her hands gently on her little brother's knee. Both of the adults were hilariously messy, streaks of dirt marring their faces. Hair of both parties stuck up and laid down in ways their hair was not used to doing, and in his case as she would say, ‘probably against nature' with bits of colorful streaks and globs thrown in both messes. “Okay, you need, sweet boy, to take off that crown.” She hovered a hand around the metal on his head, knowing full well it’s capabilities should she be the one to try to remove it. The small boy pouted again and shook his head ‘no’ so violently that for a moment they gleefully thought maybe gravity and force would do the work for them. 

There was pounding at the door. Rose and the Doctor both whipped their heads toward the sound before Rose returned her face to the little boy.

“Please Tony—”

More pounding. The Doctor looked back to Tony.

“ICE CREAM! We'll get ice cream!” the Doctor happily resorted to bribery as the pounding picked up, different pitches from different directions, different fists beating different surfaces of the home. Tony perked up slightly, but his arms remained crossed as the pounding on the door became louder, more joining it from the walls and windows around them, not stopping or pausing, filling each second.

“Lollies! We have _lots_ of lollies!” Rose joined the Doctor's pleading, having to add volume into her voice to hear it above the raucous pounding and minor shaking of the walls.

Pound pound pound.

“Candy floss?!” he added, Rose looked at the Doctor wide eyes on reflex but was distracted by Tony tossing off the gilded crown and hopping off the sofa, running like a tiny, unbalanced lunatic to hall toward the kitchen.

The pounding turned almost deafening while Rose looked at the now discarded crown with wide eyes. Each of them scrambled toward it quickly.

The Doctor managed snatch the crown and ran to the front door, sonicing it before he could open the door only enough to throw the crown haphazardly outside before shutting it. They both leaned heavily against the door, keeping it closed from the potential onslaught of anything that may try to get it. The noises and shaking of the walls stopped as soon as they heard the sound of metal clanging into something hard.

“King Tony abdicated!” the Doctor shouted towards the now closed door, bracing himself for worst.

A few clicking noises that sounded resoundingly like whining and a small twinkling noise. Rose approached the window and peeked out the blinds as she saw a dozen slouch-shouldered, soft, toddler-sized pastel figures slinking off and disappearing into a silver blue shower of light, one carrying the golden crown that had recently adorned her baby brother's head.

Once the last of them had gone, Rose and the Doctor sighed with matching relief and collapsed almost simultaneously on the sofa. Sweaty, tired, out of breath, they didn’t even touch as they tried to let the adrenaline from the day wash off. Sweat seeped from each of their bodies from exertion or nerves as their heavy breathing steadily returned to normal.

The Doctor took in a deep inhale.

“Well,” the Doctor scratched his head, pulling back his hand quickly and making a disgusted face as he discovered something sticky imbedded in his hair. “You _may_ have been right in saying Tony was the cutest thing in the universe. A cute-based society just made him king!”

Rose breathed out a long exhale. “Being right is never easy,” she smiled absently in her cheerfully worn-out daze.

The Doctor laughed “You’re telling me!” She reached over and smacked his shoulder with her nearby hand with a laugh before gingerly picking what looked like a maraschino cherry stem out of the side of his beard close to her and flicking it away. Her face suddenly grew rueful, her facial muscles tugging at the side of her bottom lip in thought.

“...We also just used all of bargaining sweets to buy the 'not telling Mum' bit.” Rose turned to him, appraising how he looked and seeing in his eyes that his mess was apparently mirrored in her own. “an’ we have to clean up. She'll _def’nitly_ know if we’re late or messy.”

The Doctor's face paled with the realization. “Oh, he doesn’t talk much, and it isn’t like she’d believe him…” Rose gave him a look that seemed to question his IQ. “Ok, when it comes to us, she’d _definitely_ believe him.”

There was a crash of metal and a small child laughing, possibly maniacally. Rose's eyes widened “...He's also _two_ an' _alone_ in the _kitchen_.”

They both scrambled to get up and ran out of the room.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Honestly had a lot of fun writing this one.


	4. Vitex Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and the Doctor get ready for a big Vitex party

Her room at the mansion, or her former room, remained an unused shell. Jackie said it was a guest room, but it had been largely untouched once Rose had left for her own space. There were specks of Rose's influence, though she must not have been too invested as the grains of her ownership were usually more well-established even in spaces she only intended to spend a day in. But, unlike those places she intended to stay, this room was usually quite clean and unused.

The inside of this room certainly looked used now, her clothes from the day spattered across the floor, his fairly neatly resting on the bed. The bedding was dented where each had sat, Rose's make-up sprawled on the vanity. The Doctor shrugged on his tux jacket looking in the mirror as Rose wandered up to him with a strip of black fabric hanging in her hands.

“Oh, I hate these things. Bad stuff always happen when I wear these things.” He said without looking at her, pulling at the starched collar.

“Oh, really,” she said, rolling her eyes and gaining his prompt attention. She was wearing a long, silky red dress down to her ankles, clinging to all her curves. He swallowed at the sight of her, her hips swaying as she sauntered to him in her high heels. “Were you wearing one in GameStation? With the Slitheen? On Krop Tor?”

He reigned in his enjoyment of the sight and took an extra moment to remember what they were actually talking about. “Well, no, but—”

“What about at the end of the world? Or Canary _bloody_ Warf?” she slid the strip of fabric under his collar and begin the arduous task of tying it.

“ _Language_!” echoed Jackie’s voice from out in the hall. Far out in the hall if the echoing quality was any indication.

“How does she hear us?” he looked around quickly in jest, ducking for a moment to make sure Jackie wasn’t hiding under the vanity.

Rose shrugged and pulled him back straight to finish with his tie, “She’s got special Mum powers.” She stroked his hair up a bit, sending shivers down his spine and excitement up hers.

“I’ll have to keep that in mind about,” and he mimed a crown on his head, mouthing _'King Tony_.'

“We gave him a bath and shoved him full of sugar,” Rose smiled in a carefully quiet whisper as she pulled the last bit of the fabric that needed pulling to tighten the knot a bit. “Right as rain.” She cleared her throat and returned to normal volume, “Either way, it would seem that bad stuff happens regardless and maybe you just remember these ones more because you’re in a tux.” She adjusted his tied bowtie with a smile. “Because you, even bearded, look _dashing_ in a tux.”

“I do look dashing, don’t I?” he smirked, moving to adjust his bowtie with pride but being immediately swatted with the hands that just fixed it with an _“Oi!”_

“I do like the bowtie.” She turned to look into the mirror and applied her lipstick.

“Really?” he fiddled with the thing around his neck, immediately setting it off kilter to Rose's previous setting of it.

She hummed an affirmation, pressing her lips together momentarily, “You might want to wear them more." She looked at him through the mirror, winking at him though the reflection, her eyes catching the light momentarily and looking lighter, "Bowties are cool.”

“Naaah. Not old enough. I think I need to be older. Have gravitas.” She turned around, and seeing the now slightly crooked bowtie smirked at his predictable inability to hold still.

Rose laughed, “It’s you. You'd have to fake the gravitas at least forty percent of time.”

“Oi! I have gravitas! Dignity! Authority, even! Doctor means dignity in at least three systems!” he looked genuinely offended for a moment, sticking both hands in the pockets of his trousers.

She cooed, “Of course it does, Doctor, you’re very impressive. Dignity and a bowtie.” Rose pressed the knot of his tie before moving her hands to the collar of his jacket, pulling him closer as she leaned into him.  
A knock came to the bedroom door.

_“Miss Tyler, Dr. Smith, guests are arriving.”_

Rose and the Doctor both laughed cringingly as Rose turned her head toward the door.

“Ta, Julia, be just a mo.” She said loudly before facing the Doctor and patting one of his arms gently. “Come on, you, time to meet the vultures so they can pick your bones clean.”

“Cheery.” He offered her his arm and she took it, following him out the door of the room. They walked down the hall, but Rose paused just out of sight of the stairs. They looked at each other.

“Sure you're ready for this? Harder to get away when you're officially here with me. Rumors an' tabloid photos are easier to run off than proof,” she nodded to their joined arms.

He pulled her a few steps ahead to the top of the stairs and kissed her in full view of the guests who had already arrived. Deeply, passionately, in the way they had just wanted to. Her hands went almost immediately to the back of his head, pulling the two closer than was needed but not nearly close enough for either of them to have been satisfied, making them both want to skip the party and discard her dress in the most frustrating way. He pulled away slowly, eyes closed, and pressed his forehead against hers. When he opened his eyes, she was blushing and smiling with clamped lips as she blinked her eyes open. He, however, wasn’t blushing until he saw Jackie Tyler’s arms crossed, staring at him. He felt the heat rise momentarily in his cheeks.

“Press? Nah. Public? Nah. Wrath of Jackie Tyler for snogging her daughter?” his paled and audibly swallowed. Rose laughed and wiped remnants of her lipstick off his mouth with her thumb.

“You can face it.” She winked before a smile where her tongue slipped between her teeth. “Ready for an adventure, Shake?” She clicked the k with a smile.

“After you, Shiver.” He smiled and bowed slightly toward the stairs, offering her his arm again.

They walked arm in arm down to the party.

 


	5. Nibbles

“Alright, I have to go be a Tyler,” Rose said quietly as her mother waved to over, “which basically means listen to a bunch of people talk about a bunch of things that don’t really matter. Meanwhile, you can go hunt down the mini canapés, yeah?” she nudged him, speaking in hushed tones at his arm. Without another word the Doctor released her arm and spun quite quickly as he started walking toward one of the waitresses with trays of food, causing Rose to laugh out loud. “Oi,” she stopped him quick and he looked at her, “Rule One. An' look out for the vultures.” She winked. He winked back quickly at her amused face before determinedly marching off in search of nibbles.

About an hour in, his quarry been cornered and captured, an array of different snacks in his belly. He looked around the crowded room of posh, glad-handing people; loads of various men in tuxedos like his, the dresses of the women varying from long to short, though all incredibly posh, looking much like the last time he they were in this situation. Rose wasn’t hard to spot, her blonde hair and red dress shining like a beacon, much different than the catering staff look she sorted the last time, pulling him out of his anticipation of dread. Rose was dutifully beside her parents making conversation with her best fake smile, clearly tired and barely fending off the bored ‘oh-you’re-an-idiot’ look that he’d seen more than a few times over the years, sometimes even pointed in his direction. It made him smile as he chewed. His prey was largely all found and devoured, though a small, unfolded napkin littered with assorted hors d'oeuvres on the cocktail table beside him. He popped another one in his mouth as he watched Rose smile, distracted only by the brunette walking up beside him in her slinky black dress.

“You know that food is free, right? You don't need to hoard it like a rat.” Her hand held an empty champagne flute, her eyebrow raised at him.

“Not quite like a _rat_ ,” his eyes darted back to Rose, now distracted by a wild-haired redhead in green dress and smiling more genuinely than she had when usually standing next to Pete. The woman managed to extricate a grateful Rose from Pete’s side by trading her older male companion for her own counterpart. A waitress with something pink on a tray stopped just in his eye line and offering before he took a few and quickly devoured one before adding another to his hoard for Rose. "Like a mouse, maybe."

The dark haired woman beside him gazed in the same direction he was for a moment. “Hoarding and trolling? This isn’t the party for it, but you might have a handful right in front of you.”

The Doctor cluelessly looked to his pile of nibbles, maybe qualifying as a handful. He nodded in the direction of the two women, “Trying to stock up. Here with the girlfriend.” His nose immediately scrunched. Maybe that pink thing wasn’t as delicious as it looked, which he knew was wrong because that thing certainly started off delicious, or more likely the title felt strange in his mouth. The word wasn't quite right, but he hadn't used it before to find out it's inherent wrongness. _Girlfriend_?

The woman beside him looked toward the pair he was staring at, a smirk of recognition hitting her as she looked at the two in his eye line. She smirked and abandoned her empty glass on the nearby cocktail table.

“Ah. Well, let’s get you back to her, Flavor-of-the-Week.” The Doctor’s eyebrows lifted as the new woman grabbed his arm to lead him back to Rose, barely giving him enough time to snatch his napkin of snacks.

As they sauntered up to the pair they heard a snippet of their conversation.“...Norway? Last time you went to Norway you came back and went all non-communicado for two weeks, no wonder I haven’t heard from you in like three months!”

“ _In_ communicado,” corrected the interrupting dark-haired woman, patting the red-head's arm and tossing her head to indicate the Doctor beside her, letting go of him so her could return to his partner. “Found something of yours.”

“Not mine but I’ll take it.” The red-head’s eyes sparkled toward him, looking him over as if he was a piece of meat.

“Uh, no.” the Doctor opened the small napkin pouch of snacks for her to chose a snack and took her arm. She gleefully tossed one of the small tidbits into her mouth quickly, giving him an appreciative moan as she chewed. He pulled a small brown thing off of a toothpick with his teeth and nodded in agreement.

Both women looked a little shocked, now staring at the pair of them. Their silence pulled Rose’s attention from the sustenance-providing man to the women, now slack-jawed and quiet. She internally cringed, clenching her arm nearly imperceptibly within his.

After a quick chew and swallow, she patted the crook of the Doctor's arm and looked to the two women, “Sorry, this is John Smith, he's—"

“Boyfriend.” The dark haired woman laughed, “He said he was here with his girlfriend, and there you are.”

The red-head’s eyes widened excitedly, “You’ve a bloody boyfriend.”

The brunette managed to snatch a full glass off a passing tray without looking, “And she took him to a Vitex party and he’s getting her nibbles.”

“Worked a ton and off to _Norway_ and now back.” The redhead said, as if continuing her conversation with Rose despite Rose's actual lack of audible participation in the conversation.

“Norway? Back to the beach?” the two women were obviously talking to each other but looking solely at Rose and the Doctor, almost delighting in the fact that neither of them had squeezed a word in their quick banter.

“I think she did. I think she went back to the beach,” said the redhead again, “And came back with a boyfriend,” she began narrowing her eyes at the Doctor.

“Well,” Rose started feeling the need to say something but failing miserably in execution as she couldn’t even seem to get beyond that word.

“Oooh, _you’re_ the Doctor, aren’t you?” the red and green woman said, not really waiting for his response, but the Doctor’s eyebrows hit his hair and she seemed to take that as one. “Oh, he _is_ the Doctor!”

“ _The_ Doctor? _That_ Doctor?” chimed in the dark haired woman, flabbergasted but tinged with amusement. The redhead turned to the brunette, sharing in her surprise.

“Yeah, I saw a picture on that silly old excuse for a mobile!” she studied him, “a bit older, I'd say. New beard, but _definitely_ him. Beach, Norway, Bloke, gotta be.”

Rose blushed and tried very hard not to look at the Doctor as he grinned at her. “You talked about me?!”

“Talked? She _mooned_!” said the redhead and Rose immediately took a glass from a passing man with a tray, clutching it like she knew she may need it in the very near future. “Travelled, adventures,” the redhead looked pointedly at Rose—who was now drinking from that previously snatched glass—as she said the next words with great relish, “showed her ‘what life could be like', ‘beauty untold,’ stole her—" Rose’s head jerked and her eyes narrowed, cutting off the red-head’s enlightening chatter. “—Stare all you like, Missy, you are _never_ hearing the end of this…”

As Rose’s blush rivalled her the red of her dress, the Doctor’s grin grew even more. She took a large sip of her drink and cleared her throat. “Mae and Christina, this is _Doctor_ John Smith, John, this is Mae Sloane and Chris—"

“ _Lady_ Christina de Sousa, handsome forbidden men get the whole title,” said the dark haired Christina. Rose almost downed the rest of her beverage in one drink.

“Lovely to meet you,” the Doctor extended his hand, stupid smile still on his face. The girls took it in turns. Occasionally staring at Rose with obvious amusement while they did so.

“Still travelling then?” said Mae, turning her attention back to him though obviously relishing Rose's embarrassment and trying the prolong it.

“Uh, no. Thinking of settling down a bit.” He said, tugging at his ear as Rose hid her smile by finishing the last of her drink.

“It's not easy as it sounds. Taming the wild beast within is a practiced art. _Definitely_ not as easy as it sounds.” Christina almost grumbled, again Rose's arm tensed in his.

“an’ yet you get less time in a prison cell an’ a mate out of it,” piped in Rose, giving her friend a pointed look before quickly changing the subject. “John’s teaching secondary in the fall.”

“Really? A school teacher?” she turned to Rose like the though was unheard of. As she caught Rose's resulting nonchalance, Mae addressed him again. “Where are you living? Hope it’s close to the school.” Mae said, obviously entering ‘polite banter’ mode that he’d just watched Rose try to do from afar, the one that all the people at this party seemed to have down save maybe the three other people in this clump.

“John’s at Mickey’s.” Rose added on a breath.

“Where is old Mickey? Haven't seen him tonight.” Christina piped in, looking around the room for the familiar face like a predator looking for meat or a boxer looking for her favorite punching bag, the Doctor couldn’t rightly tell.

“He moved.” Rose said as her only explanation, her face and tone dropping like it had every time she had to explain the sudden loss of her best friend. “Far off.”

“But he’s happy,” added the Doctor, attempting to fend off Rose's inevitable sadness. “Off with friends from a while back, happy as a clam.” She tightened her grip on his arm in thanks. The two women looked shocked before syllables started forming in their mouths to ask further questions, instead the Doctor formed his words fast and more clearly than they had. “Miss Tyler, it’s getting a bit warm in here, care to join me outside?” He offered her an arm and Rose immediately looked lighter again.

“I’d love to, Doctor.” She said clasping his offered arm, prodding him surreptitiously to move more quickly toward the glass doors while her friends snickered behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turned out _a bit_ longer than I was going for, but gets the job done.


	6. Balcony

Rose was quick to let go of his arm and walk briskly to an unattended stone pillar and look straight into the grounds. The warm summer air carried by the slight breeze felt cool by comparison to the stuffy, warm interior of the party. She took a deep breath, shaking off a bit of the bored heiress-gracious hostess routine and getting back to his Rose Tyler, even absently smiling what was possibly her first fully non-faked smile of the evening.

She turned her head back to him when he didn’t immediately join her, seeing his ridiculous smirk still glued to his face from the last few minutes. Her cheeks felt heat as they inevitably darkened a bit, hair blowing around in the slight evening breeze.

“Oh, don’t start,” she almost laughed.

“You talked about me.” The Doctor smiled, rocking on the back of his heels just outside the glass door they had come through. “You talked about _me_ to your friends.” Rose rolled her eyes at his satisfied smirk.

“Maybe a bit,” she said, adding a hint of sarcasm as she tried to cover the actions of her past self and the creeping blush of her current one by turning back to face away from him.

“And what was that about prison cells and mating?” he rubbed a reddening ear, “Because while it is _wildly_ accurate it’s a _bit_ more than I thought you'd casually share—”

“Oi, no!” Rose turned quickly toward him, moving her arm to hush him as if someone could hear above the noises of the mingling despite the fact that they were alone on the quiet balcony. Her blush creeped up faster than it had before as she speedily corrected his assumptions, “ _A_ mate. A. Mate. An' I was talking about _Christina_.” He knit his eyebrows, silently beckoning her for further explanation. She sighed. “I got assigned to watch her as one of my first job here. She was a known thief an' a lady so they could never pin much on her, so Torchwood decided to send in the Vitex Heiress undercover or somethin'. Somethin’ about making use of, what did they say… ‘flagrant nepotism’” She looked like she was going to add some adjectives but bit back words, “Anyway. They screwed up, I made a mate, keep her from doing stupid things by keeping her busy not stealin’ when she starts to get antsy.” She waved a dismissive hand and turned back around. He walked up and laid his elbows on the pillar beside her.

“And Mae? Another assignment?” he asked, both genuinely curious while buying time for him to wonder if selective hearing was a trait he could have inherited from Donna.

“Nope. Just a mate. Few and far between.” She looked at him as he nodded along. “Haven't told them everything, obviously. One wrong word an' all.” She sighed, turning around to face the opposite way, leaning her elbows on the pillar to prop up her body, accidentally highlighting her curves in the reflection of the brightly lit house. “Can't really tell them I saw the end of the world with you-not-you, met the Devil, ran from gas-mask zombies, or visited the Queen of England's coronation. They'd think if gone barmy at that one, anyway.”

“So what exactly did you tell them, then? I mean,” he prodded with a small smile. Upon sensing her hesitation he continued, “I need to know my cover story.” Rose rolled her eyes with a smile, sucking the lower part of her lip in thought.

“Vague, not lies, not really.” She nodded to him, “Foreign. Spent a lot of time with you when I was away from home.” She listed her head to the left and made contact with his still smiling face, “Adventurous, brilliant,” Rose involuntarily smirked as his smile got a touch wider despite it being a seeming impossibility at this point, “An’ rude.” He breathed out laughter.

“And now your boyfriend.” He preened. She made a face of distaste, frowning a bit and grimacing as he said it.

“ _Boyfriend_?” Rose's nose scrunched and her head shook quickly, “Oh, that’s—”

“Yeah.” He tried to shake his head as if the word would leave his vocabulary. “Not quite right.” Both of them made faces and opened their mouths as if trying to get a bad taste out before he continued. “I like 'couple' but there’s no real translation for that one to one another. We’re a couple but you’re not 'the-other-part-of-my-pair-that-isn’t-me.’ That’s a bit wordy, anyway.”

“Bit too much like Mickey-the-idiot-but-not-so-much-an-idiot-anymore?” she laughed.

“A bit,” he smiled, tilting his head to the side in thought, “Significant other? That’s a bit less wordy but still a mouthful. Mate seems accurate but has different connotations in English and Gallifreyan. Partner? Though that sounds a bit like I gave a promotion to companion.” She froze at that word, almost visually wanting to wriggle out of her skin at the thought regardless of it being not entirely wrong.

“We’ll figure it out, I reckon. Just,” she shook her head quickly and faux shuddered, “not _boyfriend_. Sounds like we’re teenagers an' feelin' each other up in broom closets.”

“Well…” he bobbed his head from side to side. “There is a broom closet...” One of Rose's eyebrows lifted and he took in her form a touch more obviously before meeting her eyes and waggling his eyebrows. “And I _am_ your boyfriend, at least for tonight.” Her eyes slowly lit up and her tongue peeked out of her teeth in a cheeky smile.

He slid his hand into Rose’s and quickly lead her back through the door, the two of them snickering and giggling as quietly as they could. They surreptitiously scampered through the kitchen to a nearby closet and what would become their favorite part of this party.

 


	7. Walls

A sound between a crack and an explosion broke Rose out of her urgent late-night emails. She looked to her side, near the base of her as she heard lyrical but unfamiliar words spat out with the cadence she could only associate with the Doctor swearing in another tongue. She heard it before, it causing her to break out in a minor, clenched-mouthed smile. Rose got up from her chair and bent down to look through the fairly sizable hole in her drywall. Drywall, pink stuff, gray stuff, wood, more gray stuff, more pink stuff, more drywall… and the Doctor's face contorted awkwardly.

“Um… sorry. I was just trying out the new screwdriver before bed.” He held up the familiar silver tube so she could see it, grinning wildly, trying to ignore his minor demolishment faux-pas.

“And you tried it out on the wall?” Rose asked, bending further at the waist to see him better through thigh-level the hole in her bedroom wall the size of a football. Her hair was still curled and done from the night even though she had gleefully changed to lounge-wear as soon as they had gotten back.

“I was trying to irritate a insect into leaving the room,” he said to the questioning glance he was receiving from the tired blonde, “Missed and blew a hole in the wall. May be good that I missed, likely would have blown a hole in the insect, too. Not strictly necessary.”

“Okay,” she nodded then stood back up so that the thighs of her fuzzy, pink sleep set were only visible again. She turned around to leave the hole.

“But!” he called, inching closer to the hole as she turned around and bent down again, her hair hanging on the side of her face. “I was thinking… Maybe this doesn't need to be here.”

“You've been working hard on that screwdriver,” her expression was blank. The Doctor want sure if the concept was simply un-thought of or she was being obtuse on purpose.

“This wall. I'm not sure it has to be here.” He tapped his side of the wall to punctuate the thought. Rose audibly sighed and sat on her side of the wall as she addressed him through the hole.

“You know what that would mean?” Rose's face was tempered and calm, as if part of her were to need to explain something simple to a child.

“We’d have a bigger bedroom?”

“ _We_ being the main bit. You know that's what it would be, right? _Ours_. Living next to me leaves you the option to keep me,"--her face mildly contorted when she said it--"a companion, despite the kisses and… other things, gleefully done though they are. We found out tonight that the word girlfriend is wrong. So I’m not your _girlfriend_. Last time we actually lived in the same place we were the Doctor and his _companion_. But this,” she pointedly looked around the hole, “Knocking this wall down makes us _more_ than the Doctor and his companion.”

“If I haven't made that clear yet, I want that. We sleep in each other’s bedrooms, eat in each other’s kitchens.Y You're not a companion. Haven’t been for a while.” He said, speaking as if she wasn’t thinking properly or neglecting a huge section of memory.

“I wasn’t?”

“No. Not beyond the cabinet room.” He shook his head, spying her attempt to stay quiet rather than argue. “What?” she pursed her lips and looked away.

“There were a few times, I think.” she looked at him seriously, the wall between them a bit of a comfort in this moment, hiding most of her vulnerability so he’d not be able to see it. “I think sometimes I was, and sometimes I wasn’t. It was easier for you, maybe. At least I hope. But if this wall comes down, you’re stuck with me. Always the _not_ _companion_ one."

“It might have been easier if I didn't have feelings for you, true. If I could put you in the friend category and not the other one. I had rules and I was breaking them. So I tried to stop myself. Didn’t go so well, obviously. Put my own walls up, let others exist where they didn’t have to.” He shrugged, “And now there aren’t any. Not from me. You seem keen to put some up, though.”

“I'm not putting walls up.” Rose looked at him slightly amused.

“This is one.” The Doctor smiled, shifting his shoulders as he obviously waved his arms toward the wall even though she couldn’t see.

“Then _crush_ it.” She said, over-enunciating each syllable to get her point across. “I'm not the one who put the walls up, I'm the one on the other side of the wall, _all the walls_ , waiting for you to, like, knock on the door, yeah? So to hell with it. This wall may as well be down.” Rose stood up with a quick hop and kicked the hole. Her slipper became stuck, loosening a bit of drywall as she pulled it back. He laughed.

“Bet that hurt.” The Doctor said through the hole. She bent down and faced him through the opening with a smile already on her face.

“Just a _bit_.” She said, obviously hopping back and grabbing her foot in a slightly pained laugh, “seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Give me a second,” he stood up. All she heard was the whir of his sonic changing pitches as it went through different vibrational frequencies Rose stood and cautiously stepped back from the wall in case of… complications.

“Maybe we should just get a builder or something.” Rose said loudly.

“Not nearly as romantic.” His voice echoed from the room, finding the right frequency and holding it. The whir became louder as it held for a few moments.

“This better not be like resonating bloody concrete,” she said, attempting to project over the sounds of the sonic and through the hole. The whir stopped as the Doctor bent down to the hole, addressing her through it though his current position didn’t give him a great view of much.

“As I recall I got a dance out of that.” came his more direct-sounding voice. Rose noticed his face in the hole and bent down again with a smile to match his, getting a better view.

“Then get the wall down,” she smiled brightly, “and we'll dance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Already got the next day all queued up, ready to go.
> 
> (Actually working on a few things with plot, they're just so much harder to map out than bits!)


End file.
